Patrick M. Ardis received a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York in 1972, and his Juris Doctorate degree in 1975 from Boston University School of Law. In 1975, he joined the Memphis law firm of Canada, Russell and Turner, where he remained until January 1988, when he became a founding shareholder of the law firm of Wolff Ardis, P.C.

Mr. Ardis has spent a large part of his legal career handling fidelity bond claims, directors' and officers' liability policy claims, securities cases, and other matters involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duties. In addition to handling assorted litigation matters for client financial institutions, Mr. Ardis has effected the recovery of more than $170,000,000 for clients ranging from small state-chartered institutions to national banks. He has also successfully defended a number of claims made against his financial institution clients.

Mr. Ardis has developed and presented over 225 seminars on a variety of subjects, including fidelity bonds, directors' and officers' liability insurance, risk management, fraud detection and investigation, and the use of mult-media technology in litigation. He has lectured throughout the United States and Western Europe for groups including the American Management Association, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bank Administration Institute, the Risk and Insurance Management Society, the Society of Financial Examiners, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, and the American Bar Association. He has co-authored two books: Risk Management: Computers, Fraud and Insurance was published by McGraw-Hill in 1987; Bad Lies in Business was published by McGraw-Hill in 1988.

From 1982 to January of 1993, Mr. Ardis served as a member of the Board of Boston University's Morin Center for Banking Law Studies. In 1985, he was a co-recipient of the Young Lawyer's Chair from the Boston University School of Law. In 1995 he was named as member of the Board of Visitors of the Boston University School of Law.
In the summer of 1988, Mr. Ardis was named Vice Chairman of the American Bar Association, Section of Tort and Insurance Practices, Professional Officers' and Directors' Liability Law Committee, and subsequently served as Chair of that committee in 1991-92. Mr. Ardis also served as the Chair of The Fidelity Insurance Litigation Group of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America from 1994-1996.

He has testified as an expert witness in insurance matters. Mr Ardis is trained and approved as a mediator by the Federal Court and is approved as a mediator in the field of General Civil cases by the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Mr. Ardis is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Sixth Circuits. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Memphis/Shelby County Bar Association, and the National Academy of Expert Witnesses. Mr. Ardis is currently licensed to practice law in Tennessee, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Oklahoma, and New York.